10 Actors Who Got Kicked Out Of Their Own Movie Franchises

The DC Extended Universe represents a marked effort by Warner Bros. to replicate the success of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, beginning with Man of Steel's origin story for Superman (Henry Cavill) and his consequent showdown with the Dark Knight (Ben Affleck) in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.

It was inevitable that The Joker, DC's most iconic supervillain, was eventually going to be introduced, and for the DCEU's third film Suicide Squad, Jared Leto was cast to play a radical new rendition of the character.

Despite the obvious shadow cast over the role by Heath Ledger's Oscar-winning performance, audiences were nevertheless intrigued by Leto's singular approach to the character.

But Leto's tenure as the Clown Prince of Crime immediately hit a brick wall once Suicide Squad was released to mostly negative reviews and harshly critical responses from fans, despite the film's huge box office success.

Leto's cartoonish performance was met indifferently by many, even as Leto himself expressed frustration with how much of his role was relegated to the cutting room floor.

Though Leto was originally intended to appear as The Joker in The Batman, Suicide Squad 2, Gotham City Sirens, and a Joker-Harley Quinn team-up movie, these plans were all scuppered in response to how his performance was received.

Ultimately Leto was never given the chance to reprise the role, as The Joker was ditched by Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie) in the recent Birds of Prey, and Joaquin Phoenix ultimately played the role to Oscar-winning success in the recent Joker, which of course existed within its own continuity.

Somewhat understandably, Leto was said to be furious about the Phoenix project going ahead without his involvement.